Franklin Dexter, M.D., Ph.D

The Department of Anesthesia at the University of Iowa welcomed Franklin Dexter, M.D., Ph.D. into our Residency program in 1990. His educational background includes receiving a Sc.B. in Applied Mathematics-Biology (with honors) from Brown University in 1985, an M.S. (1988) and a Ph.D. (1989) in Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis on biomathematics, and an M.D. (1990) from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Upon completion of his residency in 1993, Dr. Dexter joined the Department as an Associate and then Assistant Professor. He became an Associate Professor in 1997. He was appointed Director of the Division of Management Consulting in 2001, received a second appointment in Iowa’s Department of Health Management and Policy in 2004, and achieved the rank of Professor in 2005.

Upon entering the department, Dr. Dexter started a long collaboration with Dr. Brad Hindman, applying statistical and mathematical modeling methods to enhance experiments of perioperative brain injury. Starting in 1995, he also began to focus on the nascent scientific field of operating room and anesthesia group management. Since then, Dr. Dexter has published over 200 papers. He is internationally recognized for development of tools that managers at hospitals and in practice groups can use to analyze their clinical and financial data in order to make better business decisions. Starting in 2003, Ruth Wachtel, Ph.D., a longstanding member of our department, started research in the area. She now does the majority of the research and application work focused on the University of Iowa, while Dr. Dexter works externally.

Dr. Dexter’s accomplishments are measured by his publications, but more importantly by the continuing requests for his consultations by hospitals from all over the United States and Europe. He interacts with both academic and private anesthesiologists and surgeons, hospital administrators, and private consulting firms. He has performed more than 175 consultations for more than 20 companies and 60 hospitals. Hospitals and anesthesia groups send management and billing data to our department, Dr. Dexter does the analysis, shares results by web conference, and often towards the end of a consultation makes a trip to the facility. The focus of the work of the Division of Management Consulting tends to be three-fold. One is to run the state-of-the-art statistical analyses on data from a facility to determine which of the published methods are the most helpful for them. The second is to teach specialists at the facility how to perform those analyses in the future. The third is to work with clinicians and administrators in understanding how those results can be applied to improve efficiency and profitability. The biggest change that Dr. Dexter has seen during the past couple of years has been increased institutional support ("stipends") for anesthesia services.

Through the Division of Management Consulting, Dr. Dexter offers two intensive 4-day courses in operating room management annually which draw both clinicians (typically anesthesiologists) and analysts (including business managers). In addition to the course, Dr. Dexter lectures often in the United States and abroad. He has given more than 95 invited presentations. In 2004, he won the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists’ Public Interest in Anesthesia Award.

Currently, Dr. Dexter serves as Editor of the Section on Economics, Education, and Policy of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia. He also serves on the editorial boards of two other journals and reviews around 120 papers per year.

Most of a typical day for Dr. Dexter involves writing. Whether on an airplane, in an airport, or at work, he is writing client reports, lectures, or papers describing research results of new techniques. His other two common activities include computer coding for statistical analyses and standing in lines at airports, preferably the former but increasingly the latter!